Sony: The Last Guardian development continues (slowly)

“It's still a really important project and a vision we want to see realized,” says Shuhei Yoshida

Sony has been somewhat vague as to the status of Team Ico's The Last Guardian ever since its original director Fumito Ueda traded his full time gig for a contractor role. That was until yesterday, when Sony boss Shuhei Yoshida took a minute out of his 2012 DICE. appearance to assure 1Up the game was still happening... just not anytime soon.

“The project has been making progress, but slow progress,” Yoshida explained. “So that's tough, but we haven't changed any focus. It's still a really important project and a vision we want to see realized, and Fumito's vision is really causing a very difficult challenge for the developers, so there's some scrapping and rebuilding -- iteration in the process. That's why [it's taking so long].”

Yoshida also confirmed Uedo was still very much involved in the development of The Last Guardian despite his change of position, adding, “Absolutely. Absolutely. He comes in every day, and he's probably one of the people who works the longest hours.”

The Last Guardian was first introduced by Team Ico back in May 2009 after years of speculation, and has spent the last few years teasing gamers with promises of Ico-ish adventures and monster eagles since. The last we heard, Sony was anticipating a late 2012 release, but we think a 2013 appearance is more likely. That's not to say we wouldn't be happy to be proven wrong.